--
---
There was more than one
person involved in shootings, Ottawa Police Constable Chuck Benoit told
CNN's Jake Tapper. "We have to apprehend and arrest the people that are
involved in this morning's incident, and at this time we don't have
these people," he said.
--
---
---
Shots that rang out in
the Canadian capital Wednesday left a soldier and a gunman dead, a city
on lockdown, and a series of questions about security threats facing the
nation.
Parliament member Kyle Seeback called it a "horrific day."
Authorities haven't ruled out the possibility that an additional shooter could be on the loose.
There were two shooting
incidents in the city, where this kind of violence is extremely rare:
one at the Canada War Memorial, which is near the Parliament building,
and another round of shooting inside Parliament.
"I was locking my bike
up, and I heard four shots," said Peter Henderson, a journalist who was
at the memorial at the time of the shooting. "I saw one of the soldiers
laying on the ground."
The soldier appeared to
have been shot in the back, Henderson said. Other soldiers who were
nearby doing drills at the time ran to help, he said.
"This is a dynamic and
unfolding situation. I understand that people have many questions and we
are committed to providing some answers as soon as we are able,"
Assistant Commissioner Gilles Michaud, commanding officer of the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police National Division, told reporters Wednesday.
In Twitter posts
Wednesday, several Canadian lawmakers hailed a top security official as a
hero, crediting him with shooting the gunman inside Parliament.
"MPs and Hill staff owe
their safety, even lives, to Sergeant at Arms Kevin Vickers who shot
attacker just outside the MPs' caucus rooms," Craig Scott, a member of
Parliament, wrote.
--
---A gunman entered the nearby building on Parliament Hill, officials said.
---A gunman entered the nearby building on Parliament Hill, officials said.
"I heard rapid fire --
gunshots going very loud -- and I figure maybe 20-plus shots within 10
seconds," Canadian Deputy House Leader Kevin Lamoureux told CNN. He was
one level below the gunshots.
Soon, Lamoureux and
others were outside the building, taken to another building nearby for
safety. Others still inside were on lockdown. Some members of Parliament
said on Twitter that a gunman had been killed. Police say "one male
suspect" is dead.
Canadian authorities
have given the name of a suspect to U.S. law enforcement and have asked
for FBI assistance in tracing the person's activities, a senior U.S. law
enforcement official told CNN. Only one name has been provided, and it
is not clear whether the name is genuine or an alias, the official said.
The official declined to provide more details, including the suspect's
nationality, ethnicity and age.
A U.S. law enforcement official told CNN that a connection to terrorism hasn't been ruled out.
On Monday, a man who
Canadian authorities said was "radicalized" killed a Canadian soldier
with his car. The man was then shot and killed.
There was no immediate indication that the Monday and Wednesday incidents were related. Read more
